Nintendo will offer a game controller with its upcoming Revolution games console that is drastically different from those used in previous consoles.

The new style controller is part of Nintendo's drive to expand the gaming population and Iwata said he hopes it will be less intimidating for non-gamers to pick up.

"At the heart of this controller is a brand new sensor which we call the direct pointing device," he said. "This allows Revolution to detect precisely the location on the screen that the controller is pointing. With this technology you can not only point at a location intuitively but it can also detect the distance from the screen and even the angle of the controller."

Nintendo's already made innovations in the portable gaming space with its Nintendo DS console, which features two LCD screens, one of which is touch-sensitive.

The Nintendo DS, which was launched at the end of last year, has been selling well, Iwata said. Sales in Japan to the end of August, about nine months after its launch, were 3 million units, he said. In particular the device has succeeded in getting new people into gaming or attracting people back to the pastime, he said.

Iwata's speech came three days after the company launched its latest portable gaming device, the GameBoy Micro. The device went on sale in Japan on Tuesday and has been selling well, he said.

"The Famicon version, which looks like a Famicon controller, appears to be most popular," he said referring to Nintendo's first TV game console, called the NES in the UK. "It's already out of stock in some shops but we are ready to make additional shipments next week."